Slackline excavator



May 20, 1930. r J STREET 1,759,525

SLACKLINE EXCAVATOR Filed June 11, 1928 latented May 20, 1930 PATENTor-Flor.

1 JOSHUA H. STREET,'OF CHATTANOQGA, TENNESSEE SLACKLINE EXCAVATORYApplication filed June 11,

This invention relates to a slackline excavator, one of the objectsbeing to provide an excavator which includes a carriage mounted totravel along a supporting rope and carrying a bucket stick or beammounted for swinging movement, there being a novel arrangement of cablesfor swinging the bucket relative to the carriage for the purpose ofdigging into and removing a portion of the soil,

conveying the bucket and carriage to a point of delivery,and'thendelivering the contents of the bucket.

A further object is to provide a. means whereby the track rope or cablecan be payed out or drawn taut to .lower or to elevate the bucket so asto bring it into proper position for excavating and thereafter lift ittoa point where it can be actuated to convey the load to the point ofdischarge.

Another object is to provide an excavator 'of this type which can beoperated readily and used for handling material over an extensive area.

l/Vith the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as'thedescription proceeds the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed it beingunderstood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention. In the accompanying drawing, which is a side elevation of thecomplete apparatus, parts being broken away, the preferred form of theinvention has been shown.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference 1 designates a trackcable on which is supported a carriage 2 which includes a connectingbeam or frame member 3. A bucket 4 of the ordinary steam shovel type hasa beam 5 fixedly connected to it, this beam being pivotally connected tothe carriage as indicated for example at 5. A latch lever 6 is pivotallyconnected to one end portion of the carriageand has a chain 7 or otherflexible means for transmitting motion therefrom to the latch 8 whichnormally holds the bucket closed. Another lat-ch lever 9 is carried by1928. Serial no. 284,625.

the other end portion of the carriage and is coupled by a rod 10 or thelike to the latch lever 6, the two latch levers and their connectionsbeing so assembled that when either latch lever has its upper endpressed inwardly away from the adjacent end of the carriage,

the connection 7 will pull on the latch 8 and allow the bucket to dumpits contents.

A hoist mechanism has been indicated gen erally at 11 and includes threeindependently 6O operated drums 12, 13, and14; The track cable 1 isfastened at one end to the drum 12 and is extended over a sheave 15suitably supported, as by means of an upstanding structure 16. Thistrack cable is extended above and longitudinally of the area to beexcavated and the far end of the cable is fixedly at tached, as at 17,to another supporting struc ture 18. -An outhaul cable 19 is fastened atone end to the drum 14and is extended over 7 a sheave 20 on thestructure 16 and thence longitudinally over the area to be excavated toanother sheave 21 carried by the structure 18. From this last sheave theouthaul is extended back and fastenedto the carriage 2 as shown at 22. Athird cable 23 which constitutes both a backhaul and a bucket operatingcable is fastened to the drum 13 and is extended over a sheave 24carried by the structure 16. This cable constitutes part of ablock andtackle connection between the carriage 13 and the bucket 4 asindicatedat 25.

Inusing this excavatingmechanism the track line or cable 1 isdrawn wartwinding it on the drum 12 and as the slack is'taken out of this cablethe carriage and the parts supported thereby will of course be elevated;By taking up the cable 19 on drum lt'the carriage can be hauled back toa point above where the excavation is to start, it being understood thatthe cable 23'is also payed out during this movement of the carriage.Thus the bucket twill be held suspended in its uppermost position andwhen it'is brought tothe point of starting the excavation the bucket islowered into contact with the soilby paying out the track cable 1 sothat it will sag sulficiently to bring the bucket to the desired level.

Following the operation just d'escribedthe mo cable 23 is-taken up bywindingit on the drum 13 and this will cause the bucket .4 to swingforwardly and upwardly about the 7' pivot 5, the advancing edge of thebucket digging into the soil and directing it into the bucket. When thebucket reaches an elevated position near the top of'the carriage thetrack cable 1 isdrawn taut to elevate the carriage and its load andthereafter,by pulling on the cable 23, or by pulling on the outhaulcable 19 while the cable 23 is held taut, the carriage can be movedeither forwardlyor backwardly until it arrives at a point where the loadis to be discharged; At thattime one of the latch levers 6 will comeagainst a tripping projection 26 previously placedfat the point wherethe discharge is to be effected. As soon as the latch lever strikes thisproj (action which is on the track lever 1 the connection 7 will pull onthe latch 8 and release the load from the bucket l which will of coursebe delivered by gravity. The carriage can then be brought back to itsstarting position, the

bucket lowered sothat its closure will shut automatically, asordinarily, and the operabucket and elevate the load, said meansconstituting a means for shifting the carriage in one direction alongthe track cable, means for shifting the carriage in the oppositedirection along said cable, cooperating means on the carriage and trackcable for discharging the load from the bucket whenthe carriage isbrought to apredetermined position on the cable, and means for payingout the "track cable to lower the carriage and bucket and for taking-upsaid cable to elevate the carriage and bucket.

2. A sla'cklinelexcavator including a track cable, a carriage mountedto, travelthereon and provided with an elongated beam, a beam pivotallyconnected to and suspended from the carriage, an-excavating bucketfixedly connected to the pivoted beam, and separate cables for shiftingthe carriage longitudinally of the track cable and for swinging thepivoted beam relative to the carriage beam. 1 a y 3.]A slacklineexcavator includingja track cable, a carriage mounted to travel thereonpi-voted beam relative to the carriage beam, a latch carried by thebucket, connected latch levers on the carriage oppositely connected to Vthe latch on'the bucket, and means on the track cable cooperating withthe latch levers to shift'the bucket latch and discharge the contents ofthe bucket.

4. A slackline excavator includingan elongated carriage, a trackcablefor supporting the same, a beam pivotally connected to anddescending from one end portion of the car riage, abucket fixedlyconnected to and movable with the lower end portion of the piv otedbeam, and means connecting the shovel to the other endportion of thecarriage for shifting the pivoted beam and its shovel relative to thecarriage without changing the an-. gle of the shovel relative to thepivoted beam. c

. 5. A slackline excavator including an elongated carriage, a trackcable for supporting the same, abeam pivotally connected to anddescendingfrom one endportion of the car- I riage,a bucket fixedlyconnected to and mov g able with the lower end portion of the pivotedbeam, and means connectingtheshovel. to the other end portionoztthecarriage for.

shifting the pivoted beam and its shovel rela- V tive to the carriagewithout changingthe an- 7 gle of the shovel relative to the pivotedbeam, said means constituting a means for. shifting the carriage alongthe track cable in onedimotion, and cooperating means on the .car-

riage and track cable for automatically dump ing the contents of thebucket on'reaching-a predetermined position. i

ture.

JOSHUA STREET.

and provided with anelongated beam, a beam pivotally connected toandsuspendedfrom the carriage, an-excavating bucket fixedly connected tothe pivoted beam, and separate i 9 cables for shifting the carriagelo11gitudiv nally of the track cable and for swinging the t 1 1,0 Intestimony that Iflclaim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signa

